There is conventionally known a search system for receiving a search condition designated by a user from a terminal apparatus via a network and making a search based on the designated search condition. Information designatable as the search condition is a keyword, a category of a search target, or the like. The category of a search target indicates a range containing similar objects when objects to be searched are classified according to a preset reference, for example. The category is genre, category, price range, region, or the like, for example, according to each search system.
For example, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for searching a restaurant therein. The technique employs categories of restaurants such as region where a restaurant is present, business form of a restaurant, price range for eating, and the like. When the user designates a keyword as a search condition, restaurants whose names or explanations contain the keyword are searched, for example. Then, a list of searched restaurants is displayed on the screen. A list of categories to which the searched restaurants belong is displayed on the screen. When the user selects any category among the categories displayed in the list, search refinement is made on the restaurants by the selected category. When the list of categories is displayed, the categories are preferentially displayed in descending order of the number of restaurants searched by the designated keyword. That is, as a category has more restaurants, the category is displayed to be more easily searched by the user.